For Domonique Davis, the passage of Cincinnati Public Schools' property tax levy earlier this month wasn't about abstract budget lines — it was about her third-grade son finally catching up on 70 hours of missing speech instruction. Davis, a Spring Grove Village mother of three children in CPS, voted for the levy and says she is relieved the district narrowly avoided deeper cuts that she believes would have hit kids like her son, Matthew, hardest.
Matthew relies on speech therapy to communicate and receives an individualized education plan as part of his schooling, according to a report from WLWT. Davis told the station that recent district shifts left Matthew significantly behind on his speech therapy requirements after his speech pathologist was shifted between two schools, straining the services written into his plan. Entering this school year, Matthew had to make up dozens of hours of instruction, and WLWT reports he is still missing 70 hours of instruction called for in his IEP, even as his team has worked to find solutions to help him keep up.
Davis described one moment as a silver lining amid the disruption: Matthew introducing himself to a librarian at the Clifton branch library, greeting her on his own. It's the kind of small, hard-won progress that Davis says made the stakes of the levy vote feel personal rather than political.
Why the Levy Vote Carried So Much Weight
Cincinnati voters approved the district's five-year, 7-mill property tax levy on Nov. 3, following years of mass layoffs and budget cuts at CPS. According to WVXU, the measure passed by a margin of 61% to 39% with all precincts reporting, though the Centre Daily Times, citing unofficial election results, reported the levy passed with 60% of the vote. CPS officials say the levy protects programs and additional resources for students with learning differences, and the district estimates the measure will generate approximately $66.3 million annually, or roughly $331.7 million over five years, per figures published by Cincinnati Public Schools.
The district says the typical cost to homeowners will run about $245 a year for each $100,000 of a home's market value, with collections set to begin in January 2027. Davis says she will pay more in property taxes next year as a result, but considers it worthwhile given what was on the line. CPS had already cut millions of dollars to help close its budget gap, cuts that Davis said strained services for her son and shifted how his support was delivered.
What District Leaders Say the Levy Prevents
CPS Treasurer Mike Gustin said the district had contemplated painful cuts, school consolidations and reduced programming had the levy failed. Per the same WVXU report, Gustin said administrators had been prepared to present a plan to cut around $30 million in spending just days after the election, but no longer had to once the levy passed. District leaders have said years of budget reductions already led to more than 100 layoffs and the loss of dozens of academic programs and student services.
A source with the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers said math and reading specialists could have faced cuts had the levy not passed. The new levy will guard against further layoffs going forward, though it will not restore positions already eliminated in prior rounds of cuts, according to WLWT's reporting. Davis said she could not imagine what further service cuts would have looked like for her son and other students had the measure failed.
The Budget Pressure Behind the Ballot Measure
The levy followed a period of serious fiscal strain for the district. CPS had been facing a projected $44.5 million deficit and had been placed in fiscal-caution status by the state of Ohio, according to WCPO. The district says it closed a projected budget gap of nearly $58 million through staffing and spending reductions while balancing its fiscal year 2027 budget, and projected a cash deficit of $89 million by fiscal year 2030 if it maintained existing operations without new recurring revenue.
Despite the financial pressure, the district notes it earned its first 3-star rating on the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce's School Report Card this year, outperforming comparable districts in Cleveland and Columbus, per WVXU's reporting. For Davis, though, the numbers that matter most are closer to home — the hours of therapy her son still needs, and whether the system meant to provide them can keep up.
